Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie

Author:Margaret Buffie [Buffie, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-77049-228-8
Publisher: Tundra
Published: 2010-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

Inside Pelly’s, Martin went straight to an empty table that said Staff Only. The place was hopping, country Christmas music throbbing through the air. Lots of greetings, laughter, and noise. The woman with the poinsettia in her hair called, “We could use some help here, Martin!”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Just for half an hour,” the woman said. “I need you on the grill, Martin. Racine hasn’t shown. She’s fired for sure.” She looked at me. “You can pitch in, too, can’t you? I pay ten bucks an hour.”

“I’ve never worked in a restaurant,” I said.

“We’ll just have you clear and wipe tables.” She took my arm, dragged me into the kitchen, and gave me quick instructions. “Pile what you can on a tray, wash tables, check seats for grease, wipe them if they need it, dry them really well, come back, sort in marked bins, throw away, go back, repeat. Change the water with that mixture over there regularly. Oh, and make sure all the ketchup, salt, and vinegars don’t run out.”

She was a terrifyingly organized person. Martin gave me a thumbs-up and ran over to wash his hands at the sink. I grabbed a cloth and trays and took off.

The rush finally slowed down around six-thirty. I was so hungry, it felt like my stomach was folded in half. Martin came out of the back room smelling of grilled bread and grease. He put down a tray loaded with food, and we sat across from each other in the staff booth. He shoved a vanilla milk shake toward me. I wolfed down a hot dog – loaded – half a dozen onion rings, and a small order of fries.

“I don’t eat this stuff much anymore,” Martin said, “but when I work the grill, I get hungry for it.”

“Are you a good cook?” My hands smelled of vinegar.

“Not bad. Tom Harrow’s the best.”

“The guy with the tattoos, the blue scarf on his head, and all those earrings?”

“Yeah.” He looked out the window. The lights were now on in the parking lot. “Listen, can I ask you a question?”

I sighed. “I was telling the truth about my dreams, okay? Only what I didn’t say was that, a lot of the time, I’m awake when it happens. Laugh. I don’t care.”

“That’s what I was going to ask. So … you think your place is haunted, right?”

“Haunted? It’s more like she’s actually living there. If I tell you everything, you’ll think I’m nuts.”

“I know you’re not nuts. Not entirely.” He smiled, showing the gap in his teeth.

So I told him everything.

When I finished, he leaned over the table, his arms stretched out, hands almost touching mine. “So you are seeing the ghost of Beatrice and some of the people she knew. So, why, when I asked you if you heard music, you laughed it off?”

“I thought you wouldn’t believe me. I’m reading her diary. As she writes it. Laugh that off! The thing that scares me is, she must have died young.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s how I see her – young.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.